Re: [Usability]Re: notification area

[John <john crossbow dyndns org>]

Hi everybody,

> > It could be kind of cute if there were an "event log" kind of window
> > with a history of notification messages, though I don't know if it'd
> > be *useful* in any way.
> > 
> > Havoc
>
> This actually fits well with a thought I had .. rather than applications
> having to put a notification icon up, worry about it's lifespan, etc ..
>
> A single "notification buddy" kinda thing. A single icon in the tray,
> which applications can send notifications to, and it handles the
> bubbles, flashing, and what not.  This would allow for "previous / next"
> tabbing thru notices, giving the log / history effect you speak of. 
> More importantly for me, it would mean I wake up to one flashing icon,
> telling me I missed 20 notices - rather than 20 new icons flashing away
> (or worse, 20 bubbles fighting for screen space?).
>
> For me, this solves the problem of a notice's lifespan, because I now
> have a way to retreive missed messages

This is what I get for not reading the last couple of messages before
posting. :)  Your flashing icon would be my master alarm on the edge
of the notification area, and there would simply be an icon for each
background program that had sent an event to the user.

(One thing I didn't make clear in the first post is that it should be
one icon per program w/ outstanding events, rather than one icon per
event.  Also, the bell or whatever would only sound the first time
a new event entered the queue, rather than _every_ time.  Otherwise
the 10,000 email messages/day guy would have a bad day. :)

Later,
John